It seems like social media is a gift from heaven and that the execution can make you feel like you are in hell.

Yes more and more small businesses are turning to social media to meet their marketing needs. But recent surveys show that most small businesses feel overwhelmed by the challenge.

For some the challenge for many entrepreneurs is how to best use social media. For other it is how to find the time to use social media. Many in the second group are looking for options other then just finding the time. Small business owners are looking for outsource options and looking in large numbers.

Your financial plan is so important to the success and ongoing operation of your business, I wanted to revisit this topic again right away.

Let's look more closely at the elements of your financial plan, specifically the parts that make up your Income Statement.
 

Many times I have seen businesses of all sizes articulate their goals in terms of money. I am not suggesting here that you focus on the money. In fact, it is important to focus on the value that you  will deliver to your prospects to turn them into customers.

Money is a fact of life and is neccessary for all of us to pay the bills. So to say we have a business means we have to take in revenue that is more than the expenses that we have. We all have to pay the bills and in my opinion it is disrepectful to expect people to do things for free even if they are a friend.

A critical piece of developing your business Dream (aka your business plan) is to really understand who your customers are.

I was helping out a start-up company a few years ago, and they made a typical mistake. The CEO wanted to launch their new product "world wide". Well this is just too broad an approach. The key of business is to create systems for doing the same or similar activities over and over again. If you are recreating what you do every single time you do it, then you are probably a knowledge worker and you are guaranteed not taking advantage of leverage to get the most from your business, deliver great value and still have a balanced life for yourself.